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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29903370">7.7 billion questions</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/mulgogish/pseuds/mulgogish'>mulgogish</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>NCT (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Coffee Shops, First Meetings, M/M, Meet-Cute, Online Friendship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 18:54:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,574</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29903370</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/mulgogish/pseuds/mulgogish</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Chenle has come to the conclusion that Sungchan is kinda nice to look at. And he takes this time to really study his features, even with the undeniably bad connection.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jung Sungchan/Zhong Chen Le</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>58</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>7.7 billion questions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>
  <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/30S8t6er5QvMBugOzLJnV9?si=iixsWAztTomHJf9Qk2pRog">♡</a>
</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Well maybe what you need is a study buddy?" Renjun suggests, adjusting his phone in his hand from what Chenle can comprehend on his screen. "You know there's a site where you can do that." </p><p>"Do what?"</p><p>"Like, you're learning Korean, right?" His friend asks, when he absolutely knows he has to learn Korean by the end of May. It's March now. "You can enter this video call from all over the world, just pick a subject or a lesson then it'll direct you to a group call with the people with the same interest."</p><p>Chenle lost Renjun after the word Korean, and now he isn't sure what his friend is mumbling about. </p><p>The reason why learning Korean is suddenly a big deal is he has to go to Korea for an exchange student program next term. With the whole post-pandemic going on, the world is still as careful as ever, Chenle didn't want to risk taking a face-to-face Korean lesson. He'd much rather wait to talk to actual Koreans to practice his skills, that's the problem though. The program encourages them to at least learn how to communicate properly before they send them off. </p><p>Renjun is quite good in foreign languages, but he refuses to help him with this one. He argued that he's busy with his research to help Chenle for two months. </p><p>"Are you sure the website is safe?" Chenle asks with a raised brow, sipping his already lukewarm tea and Daegal, his puppy, decides to bark at the same time. He tries not to shake the cup as he lightly jumps on his seat. </p><p>Renjun chuckles, putting his face closer to his camera to look for the puppy. Chenle moves away to let him see. </p><p>"It is. I met a few friends from Japan and Korea when I was learning Japanese and Korean. They're nice. Taught me some curse words, but still nice." His friend shrugs. Chenle hears a ping from the side of his monitor and sees Renjun's chat bubble popped. "That's the site. You just need to connect your google account and off you go."</p><p>"Okay, sure. Thanks for not just helping me instead or whatever." </p><p>Renjun coughs a laugh before bidding himself farewell from their call with an excuse that he has to video call his research group. Chenle lets it slide as he stares at the website address. </p><p>He really needs this. Nothing can start and finish with him only knowing Hi's and What do I do's. So with much hesitation, Chenle points the cursor to Renjun's chat and clicks the site with one eye closed. </p><p> </p><p>The preface looks like Zoom, that much he can say. It's pretty simple and there's a Sign in to your Google account button underneath the Sign up button. Chenle clicks it and redirects him to his gmail. The whole process was easy, he didn't have a choice but to list his real name. That puts him off since he's still skeptical about this proposition from Renjun. His friend is smart, but, well, this is the internet. It can fool even the smartest of the smart. </p><p> </p><p>As he signs in, it opens to a home full of public video calls, below the search bar are some of the most search tags, he guesses are from his region. It's mostly subjects he gets why people would want help to. He slides the cursor sideways and finds the Korean tag on it too. </p><p>When Chenle clicks it, it navigates to open chatrooms he can join in to. </p><p>The names of the calls look interesting. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>i just want a korean bf *puppy eyes*</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>How to study in Korea?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>!kpop fans who want to go to kr!</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Korean Lessons for beginners</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He hums seeing the last one, surprised that a normal chatroom actually exists. And it looks like most people use this for other different things apart from studies. </p><p>The description says there will be actual Koreans in the call. Chenle shrugs and goes for it. There's nothing to lose – does he need to turn on his camera?</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"Oh, I see we have a new caller!" </em>
</p><p>Chenle can't comprehend what the person just said because he thinks it's in Korean. </p><p>"I don't speak Korean." He answers in English instead. </p><p>"Ah, okay, sorry about that." The girl says in perfect Chinese. "I didn't see the name. But can you turn on your camera, Chenle?" </p><p>He can't complain so Chenle plastered a friendly smile before clicking the camera button. "Hello." </p><p>"Hello, Chenle! I'm Nagyung and I am here to teach you basic Korean." The girl, Nagyung, cheerfully says. Her eyes turning into crescent moons from her round glasses. </p><p>Chenle scans the other boxes beside her and notices there are only about seven of them. The names are mostly written in different languages. But he noticed two others with Korean names. </p><p>
  <em>Lee Jeno</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jung Sungchan</em>
</p><p> </p><p>"Okay, well, we were just learning about phrases and words to say when buying food. I will repeat it again so our new caller, Chenle, can catch up." </p><p>He mentally cringes at her overly chirpy voice, as if they're in kindergarten again. Obviously, Chenle can't blame her. The other people in the call looked like they were forced to join.</p><p>Nagyung repeats the phrases and Chenle zones out, staring aimlessly on the presentation on the left side of the screen. </p><p>"Can you repeat that again, Tern?"</p><p>Chenle snaps his head from the slide to the boxes. He doesn't know who that is, and he can't read at least three names in the chat. </p><p>"Tern?"</p><p>"Huh?" A guy beside Lee Jeno's frame blinks. "Oh, uh, yeah no. That's my sister's name. I guess I accidentally used her account." The guy speaks in Korean, a little crooked but he certainly can speak more than Chenle. </p><p>"Oh, then your name..."</p><p>"Call me, Ten. Yeah, this is just a refresher for me, but sure," Ten read the phrases on the slide. He didn't even need to read the romanization below the phrases. </p><p>"Great. Chenle, how about you?" </p><p>Chenle nods, reading the words carefully, side eyeing the girl from time to time. Her smile tells him she's encouraging him to finish. He's learned Hangul with Renjun before when his friend had gotten obsessed with old Korean songs and dramas. They used to go to the library to borrow Korean for Dummies and learn the strokes for fun. That isn't a problem for him now, the problem is speaking it correctly.</p><p>"Amazing! You're doing good." Nagyung compliments him and claps her hands together which startled the guy below her box. Jung Sungchan, he reads his name. "Oh, Jung, are you trying to sleep with your eyes open again?" Her tone became upset as soon as the complimenting was over. The movement must have garnered her attention, too. </p><p>"Noona, I told you I don't need this." He groans, planting his face on the surface in front of him. "I don't even major in Korean studies."</p><p>"Just help me out, you punk." Nagyung hisses, and that's the first time he's heard the girl annoyed in his ten minutes of knowing her. "I told you I won't tell auntie you bought an airfryer with her money if you help me here." </p><p>This looks like a family issue, Chenle perceives. He can't understand most of what they're saying but he can see Sungchan not caring at all. </p><p>"Jeno hyung's here." Sungchan mumbles through the sleeve of his hoodie. </p><p>"My brother should be here because he's my brother." Nagyung whispers angrily once more. Chenle checks the other callers, and notices they are barely listening to the conversation happening from another country. </p><p>"I'm the Korean studies major." Jeno raises his hand in an attempt to stop his <em>sister,</em> from what Chenle got. "And Sungchan is the cousin who got caught by my sister using our aunt's credit card." He continues as if they could understand him.</p><p>"It's nothing." Nagyung must've noticed the commotion they got into. "Let's proceed."</p><p> </p><p>The lesson continues with no more interruptions. Sungchan chimes in once in a while to crack a pun connecting to the lesson and Chenle would politely snort to give him some reaction. Even as the siblings tell their cousin to stop. </p><p>It ends with Nagyung promoting the class once more. "Invite you friends who want to learn Korean. Thank you!"<br/><br/></p><p>Shockingly, Chenle thinks that helped. He looks at the notebook on his desk and reads through the words he managed to learn through the call. He plans to join next time as well. </p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>-</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>The next time he enters the same chat – he pinned it on his profile – Chenle finds himself learning about the different ways to construct a sentence. He also noticed that Ten isn't here anymore, and there are only five of them. Well, two if you exclude Jeno and Sungchan. The interest for this call is receding while the<em> i want a korean bf</em> one had forty active callers when he checked the tag. </p><p> </p><p>Nagyung proceeds with the lessons, Chenle jots down notes he feels important on keeping even if the girl tells them that she'll email the slides to them. </p><p>At one point, his eyes diverted to the frames – specifically Sungchan's. Chenle scrutinizes the static face and his eyes widen for a moment when he realizes the other is staring at him, too. Is he? Or is he just zoning out again? </p><p>Chenle goes back to writing what he deems fit that can distract him from that discovery. Sungchan doesn't seem to mind, though, because he continues to ruin his cousin's tutoring session with his jokes. </p><p>
  <br/>
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</p><p>-</p><p>
  <br/>
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</p><p>Chenle can't get that out of his head ever since. Maybe it's the thought that he's been pled guilty of staring at a random person on the internet, or the thought that the random person was staring back at him. Either way, Chenle ignores telling it to Renjun when they call each other after he's done with his fifth Korean lesson. </p><p>"Anything exciting?" Renjun mumbles, typing harshly while his phone is placed next to his computer screen. Chenle could only see half of the fatigue induced face of his friend from this angle. </p><p>"Yeah, kinda learned a lot. She's a nice teacher. She used to study in Beijing before going back to Korea so when I can't understand anything, she explains in Chinese." </p><p>Renjun whistles in delight. "That's good, how about the virtual classmates? Anyone appealing?"</p><p>There it goes, Chenle knows why Renjun likes that site so much. He can't disagree, to be honest, there are quite a few good looking individuals from there. </p><p>"Jun, there's like five of us there. And two of them are her relatives." </p><p>"Hm, well, are they cute?" </p><p>Chenle gives him a deadpan look, waits for Renjun to notice the silence to let him see how done he is. The other makes a noise before glancing at his phone, he grins. </p><p>"So they are." </p><p>"I'm not gonna do this. I need to pass a paper to Mr. Zhang, and I need to practice how to say <em>tt</em> and <em>ch.</em> Good night." </p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>-</p><p>
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</p><p>It takes a moment to register in his brain that the class starts in a few minutes. Chenle just got out of the shower and his hair is dripping from the lack of towel on his head. But he strides toward his laptop and clicks on the class just in case it's starting already.</p><p>"Oh!" Chenle hears a chirp from someone but he isn't looking, instead he's trying to get Daegal out of his room so she won't create any background noise. "Is that your dog Chenle?" </p><p>He hears his name, Daegal jumps on his bed.  Chenle squints his eyes, a few feet from the screen. He sees Sungchan smiling and waving at him. </p><p>"Your dog?" He says one more time, in words Chenle can comprehend. By this time, he knows the basics but he can't follow if they say it quickly. </p><p>"Yes," He smiles back, politely. Daegal seems to be enjoying the attention so he cradles her on his arms and trudges closer to the screen. At this distance he can see that it's only the two of them in the call. "Daegal say hi." </p><p>Daegal whines, wanting to be put down on his desk. Chenle lets her and she sniffs the webcam.</p><p>Sungchan giggles. He's not sure if he wants to smile or not because the boy looks so endeared by Chenle's dog right now. </p><p>"Where are the others?" Chenle says carefully in Korean. He hears Sungchan hum as if telling him he understood what Chenle just said. </p><p>"Jeno hyung can't attend today. Nakko noona will be a little late because she has a class." Sungchan replies thoughtfully. Daegal looks at Chenle with her sparkling eyes, even for a puppy he kind of envies it. "And I think you're either early, or you're the only one interested."</p><p> </p><p>Nagyung enters the chat just as Daegal runs out of his room and Chenle finally translates what Sungchan said in his head. </p><p>"Oh, just Chenle?" </p><p>"And me." Sungchan chimes. </p><p>"Unfortunately." Nagyung starts, connecting to screen sharing. "I told you you can stop joining now. Your airfryer arrived three days ago." </p><p>Chenle looks at Sungchan's frame and sees him shrug. "Too late to quit, I guess." </p><p>Nagyung rolls her eyes. "Whatever. Let's start!" </p><p> </p><p>And Chenle can't be too sure, but the whole time he's writing down notes, he catches Sungchan glancing at him from his peripheral. Sometimes Chenle would look behind him to see if Daegal is there, she isn't. He can hear his mom playing with her in the living room. </p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>-</p><p>
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</p><p>Before he knows it, he can already carry a proper conversation with Renjun whenever he tells him to practice Korean with him. The video call helped a lot, and it's been two months since he had entered Nagyung's Korean class. Jeno joins in from time to time, correcting his sister with her vocabulary. Teaching them the correct way to pronounce words, especially for someone who isn't fluent – some words could be pronounced badly, and it'll come across wrong to native speakers. </p><p> </p><p>Chenle leaves from Shanghai to Seoul in a few weeks, but a little more lessons from the people he can now call his internet friends won't hurt. Surprisingly, the amount of attendees have grown (to eight!). Although it climbs up and down, Nagyung never fails to deliver a class with much enthusiasm. </p><p>Sungchan is currently reading a poem in Korean, and the activity is to understand a line or two with its correct – or at least close to the right – explanation. Chenle has come to the conclusion that Sungchan is kinda nice to look at. And he takes this time to really study his features, even with the undeniably bad connection. </p><p>Ten is back, and he's finally using his account. There's a boy from Japan, too, his eyes are small and it gets smaller when he smiles. It's adorable, Chenle thinks. It's like when Jeno smiles at Sungchan when he interrupts his sister. </p><p>"Okay, Sungchan. Thank you." Nagyung sighs, "Did anyone understand? His voice was a bit drowsy."</p><p>Chenle nods. "It was drowsy." </p><p>He hears a gasp from someone, "Chenle." Said guy peers at the frame with a green outline. It's Sungchan, feigning offence. "You found me boring?" </p><p>"I almost fell asleep." </p><p> </p><p>The rest of the class laugh at the banter. Nagyung tells them she'll just read it again, more comprehensive this time. </p><p>
  <br/>
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</p><p>-</p><p>
  <br/>
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</p><p>The flight isn't as long as he thought, though he had to wake up before dawn for the ride. Three other students are joining him in the program, Chenle wonders how he got himself into this scenario in the first place. He kind of just wants to get out of the normal after getting stuck in the same place for a little over a year. Another country is the best option. </p><p>By now, he's thankful he learned enough Korean to get him through one term of living in an unfamiliar place. Maybe when he gets back he'll be better than Renjun. </p><p> </p><p>"You'll stay in an apartment. One for the males, and one for the females." The professor assigned to them announced. They enter a minibus after getting their luggages. Chenle sits on the right, the window seat. He listens attentively to the orders but his eyes wander through the bright landscape outside. </p><p>It's the season between spring and summer. The cherry blossoms are still in bloom, but they're slightly shying away from the humid air. Chenle allows a smile to appear on his mouth when the mini bus passes by a park and people with their pets roam around the place so early in the morning. </p><p>It is then when he thought of the ones he's been with in the virtual classroom. Nagyung, Jeno...and Sungchan. He wonders if he'll see them anywhere here. But Seoul is a big place, Chenle isn't getting his hopes up. They might not be living in Seoul in the first place. They never mentioned where they are in Korea. </p><p> </p><p>The mini bus ride ends when the professor guides them to where they will be staying for the meantime. </p><p>
  <br/>
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</p><p>When the week ends, he became acquainted with the only other guy present in the program. His name is Yangyang and he's here as a replacement for his friend. He told Chenle he only got the notice three weeks before the flight, so now he can only say Hello and I don't know. Chenle makes it his mission to help Yangyang into navigating this place. </p><p> </p><p>Right now, Yangyang wants to go to places near the university they're going to. A few other universities are nearby which makes it understandable why there are so many coffee shops in this part of the city. </p><p>They came across small ones, those that you barely miss if you don't pay attention. And big ones, like Starbucks, which you can't ignore because so many people flock to it. The Starbucks here are fancier, he notes. </p><p> </p><p>"Oh this one," Yangyang says, walking inside a cozy looking coffee shop. Chenle follows him inside, hears a chime above the door when it opens and closes. "There's a table over there." Yangyang speaks again, looking at Chenle behind him. </p><p>"I'll take your order. What would you like?" Chenle thinks he's known Korean enough to go to the counter on his own. So, Yangyang nods and asks to order him a chocolate chip cookie and a Java chip frap. As much as he wants to scold his new friend for picking such sweet choices, he doesn't. Because he's next in line. </p><p>"Welcome to Feel Good Café, may I take your order?" </p><p>Chenle nods at the girl, smiling when he slowly tells her their order. </p><p>"Name?"</p><p>"Chenle." He mouths, almost forgetting to spell it out to the girl. "Yes, yes that's right." He nods again when she lets him look at the name in the cup. </p><p>
  <br/>
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</p><p>"Order for Chenle?" </p><p>Chenle snaps his head towards the barista and makes his way to the side of the counter. </p><p>"Chenle?" </p><p>He looks at the ground with a frown, because the guy's voice seems to be disbelieving. Chenle hands him the receipt. </p><p>"Chenle? It is you!"</p><p>The change of tone from the barista catches him off-guard. Chenle looks up from his wallet to the guy's face. And what a small world indeed. </p><p>"Sungchan. It's nice to meet you. In person."  He smiles in a way that hides his excitement that might scare the other away. </p><p>"Hey, yeah. Uh, you too." Sungchan laughs, handing him his and Yangyang's orders. "You with someone?" </p><p>"We're both here for the exchange student program." He felt the need to clear that up. While he's at it, Chenle realizes how tall Sungchan is in real life. He thought he'll just be a little taller, as his cousins constantly brought up their problem over his height on the video sessions they've done. Nagyung curses his genes so much, she used it as an example on the anatomy lesson. ("Sungchan is so tall. He is like a giraffe." "Please stop being jealous of me.")  </p><p> </p><p>"Ah," Sungchan breathes out. The thought of seeing him this close is honestly so surreal. Chenle takes it in. "Enjoy your drinks!" </p><p>"Thanks." He smiles back, a little awkward. </p><p>The conversation should have ended there. Because Sungchan is working and Yangyang is waiting for his drink. But he calculates – with his limited notion of mathematics – when can be the next time he gets to talk to someone he's had a crush with that's from another country. Now, he's met him. Now, he's here. He could have met Jeno, or even Nagyung. But he met Sungchan, the boy he's only seen through a static, small box and bad internet connection. This is probably fate telling him to go for it. </p><p> </p><p>So, Chenle stops himself from turning around. "Hey, Sungchan." </p><p>"Yeah?" The boy is busy preparing the other orders but he replies. </p><p>"When do you clock out? Can we hang out after?"</p><p>Sungchan stops the blender and stares at Chenle from the other side of the counter. He can get in trouble for this, there are enough customers waiting for their orders and Chenle is well aware he's distracting Sungchan from doing his job. </p><p>"In two hours. And I can totally hang out." He says it so fast, Chenle almost didn't get it. </p><p>"Great." Chenle sees a faint blush on the other guy's cheeks, and he can feel his own getting warmer. "See you later." </p><p>
  <br/>
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</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>if you're still here i would like to promote a little something i made for 01z, to help you guys be motivated to write for them i made &lt; <a href="https://playingfate.carrd.co/#">playing fate</a> &gt; the essentials are there. this is my way of relaying my desperation thank you 😔</p><p>kudos and comments are highly appreciated ♡</p></blockquote></div></div>
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